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Social Responsibilities Round Table of the AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION Social Responsibilities Round Table OF THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTERnumber 133 December 1999 from the srrt coordinator: CANGreeting fellow SRRT Members. It is customary to begin one’s first message to you by thanking you for the opportunity to serve, that I am looking forward to the challenge and tasks at hand, and that I hope to hear from you with suggestions, ideas, comments, etc. However, there is something that is needed first. Wendy Thomas, who stepped down as SRRT Coordinator at the ALA Annual Meeting after serving two terms at the helm of this Round Table, deserves all of our thanks for her tenure in office. It is hopeful that as one accepts the challenge this position offers that it lands in the hands of a capable and caring person and a true leader. We were so blessed with Wendy. SRRT grew in many ways over the past two years and sometimes it was a rocky road over which the round table traveled. Looming over SRRT for several years has been an ongoing problem with our budget, a problem whose resolution began seeing light last year. While it is a problem with which we must still contend, Wendy and others have provided initial guidance and direction for us to follow. One of the task forces in SRRT was successful in achieving its own momentum and strength to take the next step in its growth, becoming the Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Round Table. Wendy helped in this process. Wendy leaves a legacy of leadership for SRRT. I like to think that she also leaves us a big, friendly, and warm smile and the simple word, “Hope,” as SRRT moves around the next meander in the river. Since the 1999 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, I have spent my SRRT-time learning about budget processes, relationships between and with our Task Forces, understanding more and more each day the roles of SRRT, the groups comprising SRRT, and the people served by SRRT and its voice of social responsibility. Part of that later endeavor is working with SRRT members to increase our presence on ALA committees and other ALA bodies that serve as instruments of influence and governance. I hope that we will see more SRRT members seeking roles outside of SRRT itself where they can serve ALA and the profession. I hope that we as a round table and that the individual groups that form the heart of SRRT can work to promoting our individual and our collective agendas before other members of ALA - and beyond. I am planning to attend and would encourage others in SRRT, especially leaders of our task forces, to participate in programs and activities of the New Members Round Table. This provides us a tremendous opportunity to share with members new to the profession and even newer to the Association that SRRT is a vital and viable group within ALA. In recent weeks there has been a glimmer of hope on the SRRTAC-L discussion list, with students in library schools voicing there concerns over several issues. A common thread running through these messages has been the lack of a social awareness among their peers. There is a GREAT potential for those of us working in or near schools that are training and educating librarians to offer our expertise and talents as professionals. We can and should an essential force blowing on the glowing ember of social consciousness in our library schools. We can do this by serving as speakers for ALA student chapters. Better yet, invite the chapter and faculty to your library not only to discuss and demonstrate what happens there, but how can and do put into your own profession the ideas and ideals of social responsibility. Writ about SRRT in their school newsletters. If they don’t have one, help them get one started. Even a two-sided single sheet of (recycled, chlorine-free) paper can convey a lot of information. Mentor, teach, encourage, invite, and share — all things we can and should be doing for students wanting to enter our profession. continued on page 2 CONTENTS more fred and little boxes...2 resolutions...3-4 task force reports...5-6 book review...7 fresh blood...8 SRRT NEWSLETTER S I T S S E R U 2000 Annual R N S FurtherB Coordination Conference (from the front page) AGA Poster Sessions Midwinter 2000 - the first SRRT Meetings of a new S decade, century and millennium We will not have a lack of Applications for presenting poster sessions at the 2000 things to do in San Antonio! SRRT Activities will begin American Library Association Annual Conference in Chicago, Saturday, January 15, at 8:00 a.m. with the All-Task Force Illinois are nowbeing accepted. An application form is Meeting. This is the traditional time slot afford all of our available on the poster session website at http:// ONTINUING task forces to gather in one location for informal to quasi- www.lib.siu.edu/ala. The website also provides rules and C formal discussion. This is the time to discuss future guidelines for presenting poster sessions, helpful hints in programs, activities, and issues — publications, Web site HE applying, frequently asked questions, and photos of sample T development, services. Many task forces use this time for official business meetings, discussing issues not only for poster sessions. If you don’t have access to the World Wide and about the task force, but preparing materials to be Web, you can apply via e-mail. Send the following information brought before the SRRT action Council or to the ALA to [email protected]: Council. I have requested that all of SRRT meetings be held in the conference hotel so that ALA staff might be in closer Title, author’s name, institutional address, e-mail proximity to our meetings and able to attend. Following the All- address, and 200 word abstract Task Force Event the SRRT Action Council I will convene in the same room from 9:30-11:00 a.m. Action Council II will take place If you don’t have access to the World Wide Web or to on Monday, January 17 from 2:00-4:00 p.m. We will be discussing e-mail, please contact Jody Bales Foote, Chair, ALA Poster the SRRT budget issue, hear task force reports and discuss Session Review Panel, Morris Library Mailcode 6632, relationships between SRRT and the tasks forces. The issue about task force by-laws or guidelines will take place. SRRT members will Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901-6632, or be submitting a number of resolutions to the ALA Council, as well 618-453-2274 (telephone) for instructionson how to apply. The as discuss several aspects about Council and ALA governance. deadline for submitting an application is January 31, 2000. Please have your resolutions prepared before Action Council Applicants will be notified by March 31, 2000 whether their meetings and come with 40 copies for distribution. PCs, Macs and poster sessions have been accepted for presentation at the copying services are found in the ALA Office at the Convention conference. Poster Sessions will be presented on July 8, 9, Center to help you prepare any materials you would like to bring to and 10 at the Chicago conference. Action Council. If you have an item you would like to have on the agenda(s) for Action Council I or II, please email me directly for having it added. SRRTAC-L Safe travels to all of us planning to attend ALA Midwinter. I hope to see many of you there. The SRRT discussion group SRRTAC-L is open to all SRRT members and is a low-traffic [less than five messages a day Fred Stoss, unless there’s a hot topic brewing] way of keeping up with SRRT Coordinator SRRT’s issues and discussions in-between conferences. Help decide SRRT’s future directions and join in some lively debates. SRRT Newsletter (ISSN 0749-1670) is published quarterly by If you would like to join the SRRT discussion group, the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library send the following message to [email protected]: Association. It is sent to members of SRRT as part of their membership and is available to others by subscription for $15.00 subscribe SRRTAC-L [your first name] [your last name] per year. Subscription is open to both members and non- members of ALA. Correspondence and manuscripts may be sent to the editors at SRRTS WEB SITE Jessamyn West: [email protected] or Ken Thompson: [email protected] Want more information on SRRT? Want to find or the SRRT Newsletter book review editor contact information for the many SRRT Task Forces? Turn Adrienne Julius: [email protected] Views expressed in the newsletter are not necessarily those of your browser toward the official SRRT web site: ALA/SRRT. The editors reserve the right to edit submitted material as necessary or as whimsy strikes. Next deadline 4/15 http://www.jessamyn.com/srrt PAGE TWO NO. 133 DECEMBER 1999 A New Years Resolutions submitted for a membership vote at the earliest opportunity Resolution on Spectrum with a recommendation from Council to adjust the quorum for the purpose of facilitating the holding, once again, of Initiative membership meetings. WHEREAS the Spectrum Initiative is crucial for Passed by SRRT Action Council June 28, 1999 the broader and more effective development of our RRT profession; and S WHEREAS the photograph on the new Spec- trum Initiative brochure cover omits representations of Resolution on Sandy large ethnic groups that have been victims of discrimi- PAKE Berman nation; and WHEREAS Sanford Berman is one of the most re- S WHEREAS the brochure refers peculiarly to spected voices in the field of librarianship; and HUS people of “every hue” focusing on genetic attributes WHEREAS his dedicated work at Hennepin County rather than culture; and Library has enhanced the reputation of HCL tremendously WHEREAS the brochure avoids the question of through his innovated approaches to cataloging and brought the need to fight racism and institutionalized discrimi- it significan benefits; and T nation; therefore be it WHEREAS Sanford Berman was formally reprimanded RESOLVED that the SRRT Action Council of the by management and then reassigned (i.e.
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